prosecutions based on the use of lobbying, regulation, and political relationships (i.e., rent seeking) to deter entry.

Economists traditionally have evaluated monopoly power using measures such as the Herfindahl index of concentration. Kiesling is suggesting that only industries with monopoly power will spend resources lobbying Washington to protect their positions, so that use of such resources can be used as an indicator.

For Discussion. What practical difficulties are there in using political expenditures as an indicator for antitrust enforcement?

The concerns above illustrate the general weakness. Lobbying expenditures are aimed at influencing gov't, so you spend more when you think it'll have a bigger incremental effect. Not the same as the value of what you have already wrested from the state (ie, from your fellow citizens). The old margins vs totals problem.

What about firms that are seeking to become monopolies or secure rents? The arugment seems to indicate only those firms that have substantial market power engage in these activities. It ignores the possibility that firms might use these activities to gain substantial market power.

I would be interested to know if there is any agreement on the definition of monopoly. I can think of three different definitions of monopoly. In addition, I wonder if there is any agreement on the definition of monopoly power. We can discuss this topic like we are all talking about the same thing, but are we?

Would anyone like to define the following?
1) Monopoly
2) Monopoly power

Tom,
I will attack these definitions in reverse order, and almost no one will agree with my definitions anyway, but they are for study.

Monopoly power is the ability to utilize forces other than Market forces to affect the Prices of Goods which the Monopoly produces. This is such a broad definition as to include Government lobbying, extensive Advertising, and Product listing saturations which hide Competitors' products.

A Monopoly, itself, is any power or ability to sell produced Product above the normal Supply Costs curve. lgl

I have a serious problem with the government taking these people to task. If nothing else, it often causes more trouble than it’s worth. The government vs. Microsoft is an excellent example. Wasn’t that just a huge waste of time? We would probably be far better off, if instead the emphasis was placed on public shaming. Have we lost the ability to shame somebody for gross misbehavior?

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